I was working on Cape cod a couple weeks ago on a couple summer homes and i want to alert any of you people that might have a home on cape cod to what i have found and make you aware of redflags to look for.We where getting ready to add a screen room to the side of an existing summer home so we started stripping some shingles back so we could mount the framing in the correct place. I noticed on the shingles that i was about to remove a dark continuos line going across the siding directly under the butts of the shingles(((Let that be red flag #1)) i knew something was out of place so we took off shingles and lo and behold winged carpenter ants and loads of white eggs started to fall to the ground. Luckily there was 30lb felt applied under the shingles and no damage what so ever was done to the sheathing how ever the backs of the shingles were full holes an borrows from ants.((((But The Plot Thickens)))) We were also installing a new roof on the house so we stripped it down to the sheathing and found some rotted boards along the fascia.Now at this point i see a couple red ants walk out from between the cracks of the roof sheathing(((red flag#2)))i cut the rotted section out and out marched an army of red ants and they were heading right for me like i was thier next meal luckily i had a hammer on me lol an they were no match for that they just kept coming so i put an air attachment on the hose and blew them of the roof with that and it worked pretty well i might add.So i said to myself there has to be more where they came from (and i was thinking RED ANTS On Cape Cod) how could that be i`d never seen red ants even once in my 20 + years at construction but any way i looked for the signs that brought up ((((red flag #1 )))) and sure enough they were all over the front wall also around the steps heavy and around the front door.((((red flag #3)))I read someplace on the internet that those ants eat any thing in sight to include people, wires ,air conditioners and that when they bite they bite an bite an bite till they have no more syrum and then they keep biting. So i wanted to take my expierience and pass it on to all of you. I hope you remember my red flags when looking over your siding the next time….
Shavey
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looking over my siding? Hell, I'm never gonna step foot outdoors again.
I have an OLD log home in KY...believe you me, I seen ants, red,brown,black, green..20 kinds of wasps,as many or more kinds of spidery lookin things, snakes, skunks, coons,possums, and bats.
Oh, I fergot termites..lay down a board in the yard..check it a week later..it's got chewemups on it.
And it's SO special when the cat brings in Moles,voles and baby rabbits and birds..chipmunks and frogs too
Now, wanna trade houses for two weeks? LOL
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations.
I sprained my ankle diving off the scaffolding this weekend when a bee swarm looking for a new home suddenly appeared out of no where right behind my head. That was worse than digging that three foot rattler out of my offcut blocking pile the week before.
Lots of critters out there that aren't necessarily looking to hurt you but they sure can make you hurt yourself. <G>Kevin Halliburton
"The Greek comic poets, also, divided their plays into parts by introducing a choral song, ... they relived the actor's speeches by such intermissions." Vitruvious, (Book V)
Its all about the red flags to help the home owners out .....hope someone takes my word to heart.
Ants living in shingles? I had always thought that carpenter ants would not want to live in cedar, but that is not the case. I once found a nest of carpenter ants living in a box of cedar shakes.
The winged carpenter ants were nesting in the shingles amonst all their eggs. Not the red ants they were just everywhere.
I remember in FHB many years ago, on the last page where people tell of funny incidents, a guy was pulling down a second story deck that had a lot of box beams. He pulled most of it off and the remainder was kind of tilting. He walked away to untie from his truck or something and heard like hail falling behind him--turned around to see thousands of carpenter ants falling out of the deck! They'd found the box beams excellent nest locations.